Gustave Doré. L’imaginaire au pouvoir

Extraordinary French artist, Gustave Doré and his detailed illustrations of visceral surreality will always find ways of reintroducing themselves time and again to an imagination eager world; such is the nature of a ‘legacy’ — an endless source of inspiration and the closest thing to immortality anyone can hope to achieve.

This promotional trailer for an art exhibition at the Musée National d’Art Moderne (National Museum of Modern Art) in Paris, is a terrific example of that legacy, creatively brought to life through the manifestation of stop-motion:

Music by Ödland “The Golden Mountain”

Here’s a brief 2minute documentary description of illustrator Gustave Doré, who the narrator describes as being; “the Steven Spielberg of his time”:

Experience the incredible angelic beings drawn by this celebrated 19th-century French artist.

The amount of detailing put into these vast scenarios of the imagination and anatomically correct (and incorrect) beings are so good and incomprehensibly epic, I really can’t imagine anyone ever emulating Gustave Doré’s level of proficiency; let alone imaging him working on them! Each one must have been incredibly time-consuming. I would love to own a book of Doré’s masterpieces; the computer screen is simply not good enough.